Current Research Focus

Much of the research in our laboratory concerns interactions between cognition, motivation, and addiction. In some of our work, we investigate how acute and chronic exposure to drugs of abuse affects cognitive and motivational outcomes, with a particular focus on risky and impulsive decision-making processes. In other work, we investigate the neural mechanisms of such decision-making processes, and how individual differences in decision-making predict propensity for future drug use. Our laboratory uses behavioral, pharmacological, biochemical, and electrophysiological approaches in rodent models to identify mechanisms that mediate relationships between decision-making and drug use, with the goal of identifying therapeutic targets for both disordered decision-making and addiction. In addition, we collaborate with other laboratories on projects concerning the behavioral and neural basis of age-related cognitive impairments.

Outside of the laboratory, I teach courses on the neurobiology of addiction and other psychiatric disorders, and I serve on the editorial boards of several professional journals.